


The Brunch

by coccinelle_et_chaton



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, F/M, Fluff, MARICHAT LIVES, Marichat, i needed to get this out of my system but it came out stale whatever, just general shit, ml leaks, ml spoilers, season 3 ml
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-16 00:14:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16943370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coccinelle_et_chaton/pseuds/coccinelle_et_chaton
Summary: After serious pondering, Chat Noir decides to take up Tom Dupain's word on that Sunday brunch. He discovers he sorely miscalculated his feelings for Marinette.





	The Brunch

**Author's Note:**

> Heeeeyyyy. So I'm in a bit of a writing block but I still wanted to get this out of my system. Chat Noir goes to have brunch at Marinette's after Gigantitan's come back and (kind of) realizes he's in deep shit. idk I might Mari's pov if I feel up to it, we'll see. 
> 
> Enjoy and please leave a comment if you liked it! It's much appreciated <3

For what it was worth, Adrien Agreste considered himself a fairly outgoing, pleasant fellow. The heavens above know his father moved mountains to groom him this way. This is why, one particular Sunday morning, Adrien found himself nervous about showing up to a social function. A brunch, of all things.    
  
Last night had been a whirlwind, for lack of a better word. He didn't how it happened, but one moment Ladybug and he were defeating an Akuma, the next he was on Marinette Dupain-Cheng's balcony hearing a panicked declaration of love, which followed by her father inviting him for macaroons and other baked goods for the next morning.    
  
From the plausible list of things that could happen that night, a love declaration was not in Chat Noir's list. With his cookie-cutter fans both as Adrien and as Chat Noir, and with Ladybug's rejections, it never crossed his mind someone could actually have feelings for him. Especially not when he had become so fixated on the spotted lady. He couldn't say he didn't enjoy the warm feeling brought by Marinette's acknowledgment, but it also stirred a number of conflictions that had not stopped swirling around Chat's head since her declaration.    
  
Adrien had never felt this overwhelmed before. For one, he was excited and flattered that Marinette crushed on his alter ego—the one that was arguably closer to his genuine character— and had the courage to tell him. But this was also Marinette in question, the classmate—the friend he had grown closer within the past few months. Marinette was an amazing girl, he had always been aware of that. However, the true dimensions of her virtue had only begun coming to Adrien's recent attention, and with that, a blooming interest in her he had not been able to control. What's more, he had a hunch about her. He did not know much about social cues but as of late, Adrien had started putting two and two together to explain Marinette's odd tendency to act so nervous around him. He saw the pictures she had of him in her room, after all. She denied they were related to a crush but a little part of him kept thinking that was maybe an alibi she built on-the-fly. But this is where things stopped adding up. He thought he was doing a good job at reading her, he thought she had a crush on Adrien. But turns out, her affections were for Chat Noir.    
  
"This girl is so confusing!" Adrien exclaimed as he collapsed onto his bed, clutching handfuls of his hair in desperation.    
  
Plagg snickered. "You should just go visit your girlfriend and stop overthinking everything. I think I can see your brain running out of your nose."    
  
Adrien threw him an unappreciative groan. "Not helping, Plagg!"    
  
He grabbed a pillow and pushed it against his face, hoping for a swift death by suffocation.    
  
"Relax, kid. What's the big deal? Just go, hang out with her, and bring me some cheese bread."  
  
"I don't even know if I like Marinette like that," he mumbled. "She's my--."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, she's just a friend."  
  
"I don't want to play with her feelings," Adrien admitted, sitting up to meet his kwami. "And what if Ladybug finds out?"  
  
"Ugh, not this again! Ladybug doesn't like you like that, kid. And don't think I haven't noticed you flirting with Marinette."  
  
"I'm not flirting with her!"    
  
"You do, too. As Adrien _and_ Chat Noir, I might add."  
  
"That's not--."  
  
"'Hello, princess!', 'Oh, you're feeling sad? Let me take you to the picnic I made for Ladybug. You can have it!', 'Oh Marinette, your baking skills are as good as your dancing!', 'You're so talented, Marinette!', 'You’re our everyday Ladybug', 'I'm going to ditch my date because she made Marinette feel bad and because I'm a total idiot!', 'I'm going to sit next to Marinette in the back row because I'm not pining after her at all!', 'I'm going to gush about her kissing me all day long to Plagg even though he never asked for the information overload!', 'Oh, Marinette is so pretty!', 'Oh, Marinette is so kind!' Marinette, Marinette, Marinette."    
  
Plagg looked deadpan at him. Adrien pouted and muttered, "That's not flirting."    
  
Plagg lifted his tiny paws in defeat. "Whatever, go, don't go. What does a destruction god know about humans anyway? I'm only millennia old and the reason death exists."    
  
"I just—wait, you're the reason death exists?"    
  
"That's a topic for another time, kid. Preferably one for after you hit puberty and learn how to talk to girls."  
  
"Ha. Ha."    
  
In the end, Adrien decided to go. Poor choice, really, which he came to realize only after he had rung the bell to Marinette's house. He felt stupid, standing in front of the door, full catsuit on and holding a small bouquet of flowers. He didn't know what the protocol for this type of invitation was, but he knew one should never show up to a host empty-handed.    
  
_What was I thinking? What am I going to do? How am I supposed to act? Her parents are going to be there, I can't exactly be all Chat Noir! Oh no, but what if she figures me out if I start acting more decent? They haven't answered the door. Maybe if I just leave the flowers and dash for it, maybe I--._  
  
"You came." A surprised Marinette greeted Chat Noir.  
  
"Hello... Princess."    
  
Both blushed at the nickname, but the words came out of Chat's mouth before he could think. He wanted to punch himself on the face.    
  
"Uh... you want to come in?"  
  
He nodded but didn't move even though Mari stood to the side so he could enter. He registered this with a delay.    
  
"Oh! Sorry." He hurried in. After an uncomfortable silence, he remembered the flowers. "This is for you."  
  
"Th-thanks..."  
  
"Chat Noir! It's so good you came," Tom Dupain came down from the upper floor to greet the hero with a hearty hug. It pried a bit of a cry from Chat. "Marinette told me you wouldn't come, but I was sure you would! We just set the table so help yourself to anything. I'll just call my wife to come up from the bakery."  
  
Marinette showed him to the family table, which was set will all kinds of sweetbreads and small pastries to go with cold cuts and cheese. There was milk, freshly squeezed orange juice and a pot of coffee. As usual, Marinette's house seemed lived-in and welcoming. There was a weekend-morning type of feeling Adrien had vague memories of, from when his mother was around. It was comforting.  
  
"This looks very nice," he commented as Marinette, who was still transcending onto another plane of existence, sat across him. She couldn't believe Chat Noir was having breakfast with her family.    
  
She scratched the back of her neck, glowing bright red. "It's nothing!"    
  
Marinette's parents joined soon after, making a note of the fact Chat Noir had not yet started eating. They smiled sympathetically when he commented he didn't think it would be polite.    
  
"It's nice to have you here, Chat Noir" Sabine said as she prepared her coffee. "Marinette told us you can't say much about your private life but I'm curious, how did you two end up being friends?"    
  
Chat bit his lip so as to not smirk at Marinette. "Well, ma'am, Marinette here has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, the right place, I guess. I've taken her out of Akuma scenes before, and she's usually with Alya, you know, the reporter from the Ladyblog that keeps stalking us?"  
  
"Oh! Of course. Yes, Alya is here all the time, too."  
  
Chat's heart skipped a beat. It sounded like Marinette's parents were okay, and expected, that he would spend a lot of time with their daughter under this roof. It made him feel welcomed, wanted.  
  
"And you seem so young in person!" Sabine said. "Doesn't he, Tom?"  
  
"We thought you and Ladybug were at least in your twenties, with such a big responsibility. And you don't look much older than Mari."  
  
Chat laughed and took a bite from a _pain au chocolat_. "No, sir. I can't really tell you exactly how old I am, but I'm around Mari's age. And so is Ladybug... These pastries are so good!"  
  
"Take as many as you want, dear," Sabine said.    
  
"You know Ladybug off-duty?" Tom said, with awe. "Marinette has spoken to her a couple of times."  
  
Chat's eyes widened and glanced at her. Marinette had never wished for an Akuma so bad. To say her plan to deter Chat's attention from her backfired would be a sore understatement.    
  
"No, not really. We're just work-partners."    
  
"It's funny, we thought you and Ladybug were, you know, together."  
  
"Dad!" Marinette interjected for the first time in the whole conversation.  
  
Knowing Marinette would be able to spot the lie, Chat said, "No. Not at all. We actually don't know each other's names! But it's part of the job. We can't know each other."   
  
"Huh. How about that. And so you go to high school, then."  
  
Chat Noir nodded. "Top of my class, Mr. Dupain."  
  
"I don't know how you do it, it must be exhausting," Tom said. "I see this one struggling all the time, too."  
  
"It's a little... challenging, yeah. But such is life!" He shrugged.    
  
Marinette was suffering from an out-of-body experience. It was bizarre, to say the least, to watch Chat Noir behave so polite and well-mannered in front of her parents when she knew for a fact how much of a rascal he really was. It was even odder to hear tidbits of his life, details that she had fought so hard to keep at bay as Ladybug.    
  
In the last hour, Marinette learned that Chat had strict parents, that he spoke French, Chinese, English, Spanish, and German, that he played instruments and practiced sports, and that he loved playing video games.    
  
What surprised Marinette the most, beyond his impressive curriculum, was the deep-hidden sensitivity she saw in him the first time he visited her balcony. Deconstructing the persona he put on to interact with Ladybug and finding out he was simply a kind-hearted boy made Marinette question if she indeed had lied to him last night. As a matter of fact, she wasn't jumpy because Chat was here, it was because she had missed the mark with him. Marinette knew a crush when she had it. And by the looks of it, this was one that could handsomely match the feelings she had for Adrien Agreste.    
  
Mari's parents had to hurry down to the bakery after breakfast as they had deliveries to take care of. Before going down to the ground floor, though, Tom and Sabine made sure Chat felt welcome to stay.  
  
"You kids grab more pastries if you want, and Chat Noir, dear, you're welcome to stay as long as you want," Sabine said. "Just let me know if we should add a plate for dinner."  
  
Chat Noir blushed. "Thanks, ma'am."  
  
"And if we don't see you on your way out, well, you're always welcome to come back any time," Tom said. "Marinette's friends are always welcome here."    
  
"Thank you."  
  
Once they were alone in the apartment, the awkwardness slowly started settling back.    
  
"You, uh, you... I can't believe this actually happened," she muttered.    
  
"It was a little odd for me, too," he admitted. "But it was nice, and your parents are really cool... and, I just wanted to come to say thank you." 

A deep-seated sense of guilt invaded Marinette. "You want to go to the rooftop?"   
  
Chat Noir nodded.   
  
It was a nice, sunny day in the city. Clear skies, no smog. The kind of day where Alya and she would make lemonade and sit to chat all day long, enjoying the sun. it was odd for her when Chat took Alya's usual seat after settling the tray with the lemonade on a stand between the couple of beach chairs.    
  
"Can I ask you something?" Chat Noir said after taking a sip from his drink. Marinette nodded.   
  
"That time, when I came to visit you and we were both feeling down. You said you were also heartbroken. Was... was it because of me? Oh no, and then I took you to see the surprise I had made for Ladybug," he said, horrified. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!"    
  
Marinette giggled. "No, no. It's okay, Chat." She said, pulling her knees to her chest. "It was another guy that time. A boy from my school."    
  
"Oh..."    
  
"I actually didn't think you'd come," she continued. "I know you love Ladybug. And I wanted you to know that yesterday... that was a mistake. I shouldn't have told you how I felt. I just panicked because of the Akuma. I'm sorry."   
  
After pondering for a moment, he spoke. "You shouldn't apologize for how you feel," he said kindly. "I was pleasantly surprised if I have to be honest. It's not every day that a beautiful girl confesses her love _fur_ you."    
  
She rolled her eyes, amused. "Now I'm beginning to regret it." 

  
He shrugged and leaned back, looking at the city skyline. "It's true," he admitted. "Can I be honest with you?"    
  
Marinette nodded.    
  
A pink blush crept underneath Chat's mask as he disposed to talk. "Beneath the mask, I get love declarations all the time but... uh, how can I explain it without giving myself away? Let's just say I live in a world where appearances matter."  
  
"Oh, part of the bourgeois, I see," she teased.    
  
"Shuddup. As I was saying, the world where I live is a bit uptight and I don't get to be myself most of the time. So those love declarations, they don't mean anything to me. And nobody I know has really liked Chat Noir, not even Ladybug," he confessed with a bit of sadness.    
  
Well, the plan to clear things out flew out the window with that one, Marinette thought to herself. She didn't have the heart to tell Chat it was a ruse. And, if she had to be perfectly honest, it wasn't so much that she didn't want to clear things for his sake, it was that she wanted him around.   
  
"But... you did mean it, right?"    
  
Marinette looked at him, perplexed.    
  
"You seemed pretty bummed out about the other guy that other time."    
  
"I... yes, I do," she said, feeling a crimson heat invading her from the gut up. She found, simultaneously, that the words didn't taste like a lie as much as they did before. "But don't worry. I understand."    
  
"It's the first time anyone has ever told me they like me," he said, then smiled at her. "But uh... it's like you say...with Ladybug."   
  
This was the best possible outcome from last night's fiasco, Marinette told herself. Really, it was a win-win situation. Chat would get off her case and things would go back to normal. She was completely aware of that. But then, if this was what was best, why did she feel so... heartsick? The same pain she felt at the idea of Adrien not loving her, it was the very same pain. She felt stupid, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.   
  
"I'm not sure how I feel about her," Chat said. "She told me she doesn't want to be with me. And I know I should move on because it would be better for me and for our partnership but... I just need a little time. I'm really flattered you told me how you feel, and you are... you're so wonderful. But it wouldn't be fair for me to lead you on if I don't know what my deal is yet."   
  
Marinette bit her lower lip and nodded, realizing his words hurt much more than she ever thought they could. In her mind, it wasn't just Chat Noir rejecting Marinette. It was the fact that if they ever unveiled their identities he might not like what was under the mask.    
  
"It's okay, I understand," she said, blinking back the seeds of her tears.    
  
"Please don't cry, Mari."   
  
"I'm not crying," she lied and laughed, taking a big gulp from her lemonade. "And really, it's okay, Chat. It's completely fine." She smiled. "I'm not going to get akumatized over this so stop looking at me like I'm made of glass."    
  
"But... I can come to visit you if you want. From time to time."   
  
"Yeah, it's probably better... I'm okay with being friends. You can always come over so I can kick your butt at Mega Strike 4."    
  
"That would be nice," Chat said, setting down his empty glass on the beverage tray. As he did, his eyes caught on an item that hid behind Marinette's chair.   
  
"Augustus' pacifier." He picked the dusty thing off gingerly and glanced at Marinette.   
  
"Ah, Ladybug must've dropped it." 

Chat caught up on that faster than you could say Cataclysm. "I... never said Ladybug had it."    
   
Sweating like a pig, Marinette pretended to be busy chugging down her lemonade.    
  
"You saw her leave?" 

"No, no... I just... I saw it in the news, afterward. That poor baby Hawkmoth akumatized and the pacifier was the Akuma, right?"   
  
Chat Noir wasn't sure the news mentioned anything about the Akuma.    
  
"But you were in your balcony, right? And I was down on the street. I saw her leave. You couldn't have possibly missed her."   
  
"Actually, I was just coming up when you arrived," she lied, grinning. "I was hiding in my room and climbed up when the ladybugs restored everything, to calm down."    
  
He studied her for a moment but dropped the subject in the end. "Ah, of course. That adds up," he lied. "Well, I better go now, Mari. My family must be wondering where I am."    
  
"Sure!" She said, a little too relieved.    
  
"Maybe we can hang out sometime next weekend," he offered. "Provided that Hawkmoth doesn't ruin my plans, as usual."    
  
Marinette laughed. "If that happens, I'll understand."    
  
He waved her goodbye and with that, the crisis was averted.    
  
Adrien spent the rest of that day viciously combing through every single report of Hawkmoth's attack on baby Augustus, trying to find one, just one that mentioned the pacifier was the Akuma. There were a few mentions theorizing what the object could have been and guessing right, but none actually acknowledged what it really was, not even the Ladyblog.   
  
"Could it be?" Adrien muttered, his heart beating fast, as he kept throwing the pacifier into the air. "Maybe she is Ladybug, after all, Plagg."   
  
"You are a lost cause. If you like Marinette you should like her because it's her, not because she might be Ladybug."   
  
"It's not like that! That's the reason why I turned her down today! But she likes both of me," he said, hardly able to contain his excitement. "Marinette likes me, Plagg!"   
  
"You are a very, very strange child, Adrien."   
  
\---  
  
When Marinette walked into the classroom the next Monday, he didn't really know what he was expecting, but he was disappointed. Marinette came in rushing, as usual, arriving only seconds before the bell rang and Mme. Bustier came into the room. Hence, she didn't give him so much as a look when she walked in.    
  
Restless, he drummed his fingers on his desk and slightly peeked behind him to see if he could catch a glimpse of Marinette. She didn't even notice he was watching her. Marinette was completely absorbed in her sketchbook and curiosity had never burned so deep in Adrien's gut. He glanced at her to double-check she wasn't paying attention and ever-so-slightly leaned back to try and get a peek of what she was drawing.    
  
"Hi, Mari!" He said, fully turning around. "What are you draw--."   
  
Immediately aware of Adrien's hand brushing next to hers, she screeched and slammed the notebook closed.    
  
"Idon'thaveacrushonChatNoir!" She blabbered.    
  
"What?"   
  
"What?"    
  
She had been fast, but Adrien had been faster and what he saw was definitely a sketch of Chat Noir.    
  
Adrien beamed at her. "Sorry... You were so focused, I got curious to see what you were drawing. You're an amazing artist."   
  
Marinette burned bright red. "Th-thanks..."   
  
"So... how was your weekend?"   
  
"My-my weekend?"    
  
"Yeah, I saw there was an Akuma near your house."

"Oh! Oh... that, yeah. Hah, it was fine," she said, waving her hand. "You know, just the usual... An Akuma came crashing through our wall and Ladybug and Chat Noir saved my house. Just a regular day in Paris."

  
Adrien smiled and rested his cheek on his hand as he looked at her. "I bet it must've been _paw_ sitively _claw_ trastophic..."   
  
Marinette looked at him with a mix of amusement, bewilderment, shock, and just a twinge of disgust. Adrien had only realized what he just said after the words escaped his mouth.   
  
"Did... did you just pun?"  
  
"I—me? Nooo. I mean, that's probably what Chat Noir said, heh."    
  
"Probably," she said, giggling. "But if I didn't know better, I'd say you're not _feline_ like yourself today."    
  
"And why on earth would you think that?"    
  
"Because I've been calling your name on the roll call four times now, Adrien," Mme. Bustier interrupted.    
  
He turned around sharply, prying a few giggles from his classmates.    
  
"Sorry," he said with a mousy voice. "Present."  
  
 


End file.
